Tracking Gorillas in Uganda

In the early hours of 3 April 2010, we rolled out of the beds in our simple but comfortable bandas at Buhoma Community Rest Camp to pursue mountain gorillas. Here's a snap of us carb-loading before our gorilla trek with the magnificent forest in the background.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest lies on the edge of the Western Rift Valley (also known as the Albertine Rift) in southwestern Uganda. Bwindi is home to four habituated gorilla groups that can be tracked by tourists. There is an additional habituated group that is preserved purely for research. We tracked the Rushegura or "R" group.

Our gorilla guide, David (pictured below), started by briefing us on the nuances of tracking gorillas, basically - what's respectful and what's not. One extra tip from David was to tuck our trousers into our socks literally to avoid ants in our pants. A group of enthusiastic trekkers from Sweden were on the case immediately doubling over to tuck their hiking pants into their socks. We played it cool, only "tucking in" before we stepped into the forest.. vanity still counts for some, even in the Great Rift Valley.

Rushegura group is made up of 19 gorillas each with their own personality. The unique identifier for a gorilla is its nose print, in the same way humans are uniquely identified by a fingerprint and giraffes by their distinct coat pattern.

In a group of eight (I'm talking humans here) we set off to find the Rushegura gorillas. David told us that a group of trackers head out earlier in the morning to locate the gorillas to a general vicinity in the forest. They then radio this position back to base so that when we (the tourists) come out we can head in the general direction of their whereabouts. Locating the gorillas can take anywhere between 15 minutes to six or seven hours! We had braced ourselves for the 'worst'.

From our first encounter with the gorillas the clock started ticking. Visitors are allowed one hour with these amazing animals which is tightly controlled by the guides in deference to the gorillas. After a 45 minute hike up a dense forest hill David, our guide, asked us to pause and inhale, "Do you smell that?" It was the smell of animal.. we were in the gorilla's hood. Before we new it about five of the Rushegura gorillas crossed our paths (or did we cross theirs?) as they were descending the hill into the valley below.

David informed us that they hadn't been down in the valley for the past two months. For this we were lucky, yes, but it also meant that we had to race down the hill through dense forest as David and the other guides created a path for us to scramble down. As we slipped and slided down the hill the Rushegura gorillas trailed a parallel path much more gracefully than us!

The sun was shining brightly in the valley which is reflected in the improved clarity of my pictures from my basic point and shoot camera.
We were not allowed to touch the gorillas but they came close to us of their own volition.

Check out those hands.
A pensive G.

This video starts with a focus on one of the two silverback gorillas in the Rushegura group. It then pans to some of the smaller gorillas in the group. What an amazing experience.